Age of Politics and Economics

By: Mark Spradlin

Age of Politics and Economics

By: Mark Spradlin

Industrialization-

The Indians

Indian society had been almost completely annihilated when American became more greedy and desired more land. Indians where forced to be implimented into american society against their will. They were forced to adapt to american culture, they were given very little land, and were treated very poorly.

America was very shameful in their attempt to gain more land because of how they treated other people who lived in america.

Technological Advancements

Over the years, Technology has advanced significantly. The Telegraph and telephone are just a few examples of how america greatly improved its country. The telegraph allowed for easy long range communication which was later improved and replaced by the Telephone. These allowed for communication across a vast distance both easier and quicker than ever before. The Light bulb was one of the most important inventions of the time. It helped with many things, allowing for the use of work at night, being easier to see things in the dark, and more.

America was proud of these Technological Advancements.

Monopolies

Trade around this time has begun to grow significantly in america. Oil was one of the most used and important types of goods around the time. It helped to run many of the new inventions that started to pop up around that time.

Rockefeller was a man determined to own all of the major oil businesses around. This started leading to the development of monopolies. Monopolies are when one person or company gains too much power and control over a commodity. Rockefeller and Carnage are just a few of the people who became very powerful by the use of monopolies.

Laws were later passed to help limit the use of monopolies in america.

America was ashamed of Monopolies.

Immigration-

European Immigration

People from many countries across Europe were quickly moving to America in hopes for a new and better life. People had to endure days of questioning and tests before they would be aloud to enter America, or they would be sent back on the immigration ship.

The majority of people at the time were Chinese. A new facility was set up to inspect the immigrants before they would be aloud to gain access into America. Because of the large number of immigrants, America needed to close its borders for at least 10 years.

America should be both proud and ashamed of this time period because they were able to get a large population boost and more diverse in many ways, and was shameful because of the way we treated the immigrants trying to find a new life.

Cross of Gold Speech

The cross of gold speech was an idea meant to help spread the money around to more people by changing the gold currency into silver. America had a larger amount of silver than gold and therefore there would be more to go around, however this would cause inflation.

Many people disliked the idea because they were very wealthy with gold and the idea of having to switch currencies frustrated them.

America should be proud of this. This allowed for many people who were having trouble getting money receiving. Farmers were the main target of the Cross of Gold speech.

Political Machines

Political Machines were beginning to be used to keep people in power. They help out immigrants in exchange for their vote. They used this to keep America's advancements in place for countless years. people who didn't follow through in voting were severely hurt by members working with the political machine.

America was ashamed of the use of Political Machines. People have a right to vote for who they really want.

City Development

With the large number of increasing immigration, Cities have been filling up at an enormous rate and they needed new means of housing thousands of people in cities.

They have developed many different kinds of housing and structural designs. They made city structures more compact to allow for more buildings per city, they also developed the Skyscrapers which allowed for more people per building. The skyscrapers made and increasing demand for steel.

America should be proud of their structural advances and the development of steel and other technology.

Vast increase in Jobs

With the increasing number of immigrants and technology, many new jobs became available, allowing for more immigrants to have jobs and pay for their living. With the large scale developments of structures and the steel factories, these allowed for many jobs to open up in the US, Which led to more immigration.

America should be proud of this because they found a way to improve working and the amount of people employed.

Cleaning up Cities

The cleaning of lands is very important because, The cities were full of trash and garbage. having these made the cities unsafe and often caused illnesses to occur. Laws were passed to help clean up the streets of cities and to keep them clean. (Garbage men)

America is proud because when ordered to clean up the streets, it made cities much more livable and also made people safer.

Environmental

The environment was in bad shape and needed to be fixed. lands were being torn down, large masses of water becoming unusable because of the coal mines. Roosevelt and others set in place several laws protecting land and clearing out the debris from their ravaging.

America is proud because they started making people think more about the environment and taking care of it.

Crippling of Corrupt Politics

Several people stood up against corrupt politicians and other strong men who were controlling the government. Roosevelt was one of the people who made it their goal to take down corrupt politics and making the fair and free.

America is proud of these people who would risk their life for freedom and fairness.

Political Bosses

Political Bosses were people who tried controlling large businesses or parts of the government in an attempt to stay in charge. They used dirty tactics to try and get immigrants and Americans to vote for them.

America was ashamed for doing this. It held back technological advancements for years.

America Expands

America started claiming countries around the Caribbean after they helped the lands gain independence from other countries. America was forceful in its takeover of Cuba, Panama, Philippines, and more countries.

America was ashamed for taking all the countries unlawfully.

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal was a huge opportunity for America. It helped with transport and trade between foreign countries. It allowed for many extra and quicker means of transport. However America was being very hurtful towards the people of Panama. They helped Panama free itself from Spanish rule, but ended up just taking over.

America should be ashamed because of how they got the Panama Canal built.

Open door Policy

China had been the center of all foreign trade at the time. Several countries wanted control of China to get the most exportation of good to produce money. With the thought of China being controlled, they started the Boxer Rebellion which was easily crushed and led to china being cut into different territories.

America being nice offered the idea of The Open Door Policy, which aloud China to trade with any countries they want without any repercussions.

America should be proud of this. It both stopped several countries from fighting, it also save china and enhanced trade relations between other countries.

Lusitania

Germany had sunk the Lusitania. It is a boat that had countless Americans onboard. This was an outrage for America. Germany claimed it was an unintentional attack on America. This was what had begun to get America involved in the war.

America was ashamed because they had lost several Americans to Germany and yet did nothing.

War Ends

With the end of World War I the U.S. has gotten much more technologically advanced than they were previously. It also boosted friendships between other Allies in Europe. With the ending of the war people hoped that there would be no more large scale wars.

America should be proud and ashamed, because they ended one of the bloodiest and threatening wars of all time and saved many peoples lives and also believed they have ended all wars. They should be ashamed because of how many people had to die for their idealisms to become supposedly true ("The war to end all wars").

Rejection of the Treaty of Versailles

The Treaty of Versailles is where all the countries got together to forma League of nations, and to figure out what to do about Germany as a group. The league of Nations were meant to prevent all future conflict and people would truly be allies.

President Wilson thought that the punishment for Germany was too steep and also he was very specific on protecting certain parts of the treaty. With the conflict that arose it lead to America not signing the Treaty of Versailles which led to America not joining the League of Nations.

America should be both proud and ashamed of this, because they stood up for what they thought was right, however they refused to make a unified alliance with the other countries.

Conclusion

Over all. Out off all the Things America has done over the years we should not be very proud of American society. Instead we should be ashamed of all the corruption and bad things we have done to everyone and everything.